Improvement in splints for fractured limbs



GEORGE S. KING, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Letters Patent No. 101,743, dated April 12, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN SPLINTS FOR FRACTI'JRED LIMBS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

To all whom yit may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. KING, of Washington, in the District ofColumbia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Splints to SetFractured Limbs and Knee-Caps, and straighten crooked limbs of children;and do hereby declare that the following description, taken inconnection with the accompanying plates of drawings,'hereinafterreferred to, forms a full and exact specification of the same, wherein Ihave set forth the nature and principles of said improvement, by whichmy invention may be distinguished from others of' a similar class,together with such parts as I claim and desire to secure by LettersPatent.

The nat-ure of my invention consists iu the use of spring-tempered hardrubber, for fracture-splints and straightening crooked limbs, andanalogous cases or purposes to which it may be applied, several of whichuses to which it may be put being shown by the accompanying drawings,Figures l, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, andalso in combining with the apparatus agraduated metallic fastening, as described below.

Figs. 3 and 4 show a modication to be used as splints to set fracturedlimbs, being bivalvular cases fastened together behind, or at one side,by means of metallic hinges c c, an'd adjusted and opened in front orlat the sides, as the case may be, by means of graduated clasps e e, orother fastenings, thereby obviating the use of bandages andfracture-boxes, as far as desired; also enabling patients to walkearlier after fracture than they otherwise could.

Another modification is seen in ligs. 1 and 2, and is a biva-lvularcase, of similar construction with those for fractured limbs, iigs. 3and 4, fig. 2 representing the disconnected halves of the case, and fig.1 represents it as closed.

When the edges of the bivalvular case can `be brought into perfectcoaptation without being sprung over a limb under treatment forcurvature, the limb must of necessity have resumed its normal axis.

Another modication is a new splint, figs. 5 and 6, to set fracturedknee-caps, constructed of four half rings or semicil'cles, to be hinged'behind by a ring hinge of the following description, viz: A singlemetallic ring, passing through four smaller rings, fastened respectivelyat the posterior ends of the four semicircles d d l d. -Tbe wholeapparatus to beadjusted to the knee by-fastening the semicircles infront, any two at a time, as the direction of the frac: ture mayrequire, and then adjusting the two parts thus composed, all thefastenings being accomplished `by means of adj u stablevclasps O C,mounted ou the anterior aspects of the semicircles d ll-d d, or by otherfastenings.

Graduated clasps for fastening and adjusting the bivalvular cases areshown in Figures 7 and 8. A conical metallic tongue, a., of properdimensions, projects from edge of one bivalvular case or semicircle toiit into its'fellow, having a small cone projecting at right angles fromone side at its end.

A' house, b, of proper'dimensions, fixed upon the opposite half of thecase or semicircle, its longestdiameter at right angles to that of thesplits for fractured `long bones and crooked limbs, but so fixed on theknee-cap splints as to adjust the four semicircles together in front,the said house to receive metallic tongues a, and to be traversed in itsshortest diameter by four or mre metallic wires a', in a row half waybetween itsdmiddle line and one side; these wires to serve as abutmentsfor small cone at cud of tongue; the intervals between thc wires toreceive the same when adjusted; the house has also a slot through itstop along the long diameter, half way from the middle, and the sideopposite to that side near which the row of wires is.

Metalliobolt c, truncated cone-shaped, the conicality to correspond withspace between side of house, near whichslot is, and' tongue' a, whenadjusted in house; said boltto 'be pierced at its middle by a setscrew;and to pass on top of tongue a, when adj usted between wire abutments,so that the tongue will be' immovable. The whole clasp, when adjusted tohold together the halves of the bivalvular case of the semicircles ofthe knee-cap splint, until uui'astened at will.

Having described my invention and improvements,

That I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The use of spring-tempered hardrubber-inthe construction of splintsand bivalvular cases, and kneecap splints, lfor the gradualstraightening of crooked limbs and the setting ot' fractured limbs, ashereinabove described.

2. In combination. with the hard-rubber bivalvular case above described,the adjustable graduated fastening, for the purposes described.

GEO. S. KING. [L.-S..]

Witnesses:

' II. A. DANIELS,

H. J. SLYE.

